Webtivity  team has grown and we feel like it is time for you to meet us all, to put some faces behind the company and to know more about what we do all day.

What is your name? Terry Thompson

Where are you from? Trout Creek, Michigan

How did you get to Webtivity? Bought the company in 2009

How would you explain your job? Man of many hats.

What is your favorite color? Blue

I can’t go a day without… Coffee and my dogs.

Where can we find you on the weekend, and doing what? Camping or hanging out by the pool.

What is your name? Brian Dubil

Where are you from? Born and raised in Sarasota Florida. 

How did you get to Webtivity? I completed my AS in computer graphics and design. I was looking for a job in the design field. I heard about a job opening at Webtivity through a friend, went in for the initial interview and the rest is history.

How would you explain your job? Diverse, you never really know what you will be getting into day to day.

What is your favorite color? Dark Green or Navy Blue.

I can’t go a day without… Tea, love me some tea!

Where can we find you on the weekend, and doing what? Spending time with the family, whether it’s being lazy on the couch, out paddle boarding or on an adventure they are always with me.

What is your name?  Tim Seward

Where are you from? Rockville, MD/ just outside of Washington DC 

How did you get to Webtivity? Met Terry at a local St. Pete business.

How would you explain your job? Customer Relations. I get the client and keep them happy. I liaison between the marketing team and the client. I go to community meetings to keep the face of Webtivity current and alive. SALES!

What is your favorite color? Blue

I can’t go a day without… COFFEE!!!… And music

Where can we find you on the weekend, and doing what? At home, working on the house OR out with friends laughing…the gym too.

What is your name? Didier Bizimungu

Where are you from? I am originally from a small country in East Africa called Rwanda. 

How did you get to Webtivity? I was lucky enough to be hired by the Webtivity family shortly after graduating from the University of South Florida

How would you explain your job?  My job varies day by day. From entire campaign management to minute details that might take a few days. The constant theme to my job would be the excitement; every day presents a different challenge.

What is your favorite color? My favorite color is blue. It invokes a calm emotion within me.

I can’t go a day without… That would be a prayer.

Where can we find you on the weekend, and doing what? You will find me in nature either hiking, biking, playing with my dog at the park, or even just taking long walks.

What is your name? Meredith Bardsley

Where are you from? Beverly, located on the North Shore of Massachusetts. 

How did you get to Webtivity? I moved to FL (finally) and was fortunate enough to see the job posting, thought it was perfect for me, and I got the job!

How would you explain your job? I do many different things day-to-day. I manage social media accounts; write blog posts, online marketing, website support, customer service. I learn something new here every day!

What is your favorite color? Purple. My condo up north was ALL purple!

I can’t go a day without… Coffee and the ocean

Where can we find you on the weekend, and doing what? Enjoying all that is Florida! Running, kayaking, paddle boarding, boating, yoga, visiting one of our many preserves, and taking pictures of rainbows and sunsets.

What is your name? Janvier Nshimyumuremyi

Where are you from? Kigali (Rwanda) 

How did you get to Webtivity?  I was referred to Webtivity by a friend.

How would you explain your job?  Responsible for delivering marketing programs to support the growth and expansion of our clients’ company products and services.

What is your favorite color? Blue

I can’t go a day without… talking to my daughter.

Where can we find you on the weekend, and doing what: Most of the time, I spend my weekend with family, road trips and spend lot’s of time either at the pool or the beach.

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The biggest challenge a business owner faces is the lack of traffic to his or her website.  This is an enormous challenge because no traffic means nobody knows about the business’s services. Today, we will look into 5 easy ways to increase traffic to your website.

Great content: It’s highly recommended to take the time to find great content to put on your website or blog. Having quality content is one of the top factors google uses to display your website in search engine results. Great content becomes beneficial to your website by bringing traffic to your website and when the customers are happy and find the website’s content relevant they are more likely to share them.

Blogging: Blogging is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website because, every time you write a blog, it adds new content on your website which is what search engines love, with this new content, your website is more likely to show up in the top search results on search engines.  Blogging not only brings you traffic, it also creates a relationship between new and existing customers.  Every time a customer leaves a comment, they are more likely to come back to read the reply to their comment, which creates a consistent audience to your website.

Social Media:  Social media is a great tool to promote your content and be connected to a mass audience. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and more can help lead traffic to your website and start a conversation that can be shared through other social media platforms.

Advertise:  Advertising will immediately increase your website’s traffic. By using Pay Per Click advertising like Google Adwords and social media advertising.  For example, Facebook allows you to advertise by choosing the exact audience you want to target which makes it easier to convert the targeted traffic. Businesses are increasingly using social media advertising to drive traffic to their websites and to promote their services to the mass audience social media presents.

On Page SEO:  On-Page SEO plays a huge role in ranking high on search engines.  Having relevant keywords in your website content will make it easy for search engine to find your website and give it a good ranking. All this cannot just happen without good content.

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Preparation

Like all great written content, your first step should be research. Research, research, and research again. Whether it is Google, an Encyclopedia, or your grandma Lucille, I don’t care what source you use, but be sure to run your topic through a rigorous test process to make sure your content will reach or even surpass your intended goals. Things to look out for:

Has someone already covered this topic?

• Not necessarily a deal breaker since every topic has a potentially unlimited number of angles an author can cover. It is good to get a gist of the content other related articles have on the topic. If you do not plan on making your article as comprehensive, maybe a different take on that subject might be more fitting.

Is my topic saturated with results already?

• The amazing World Wide Web has been around for a very long time. Take a moment to make sure your topic has not been beaten into a saturated pulp. Pick interesting angles, niches or even a related; more obscure field to increase the likelihood of your article standing out. Remember the absence of search results does not equal the absence of search queries.
  Can I use related articles to round out my knowledge on my chosen subject?

In your research, you might discover some things you did not know about your topic. Take a moment to absorb this information, round out, and refresh your knowledge on the chosen topic.

Picking a Topic

Picking a topic is the first important step in creating quality popular content. For SEO purposes this topic is going to be synonymous with our chosen keywords. For this purpose, we are creating an article to add to our website. I am going to assume initial keyword targeting was done, and that two-word keyword targets have been adequately covered. We will focus on three-word keywords in this article, but if you are just starting out in your SEO journey, feel free to replace three-word keywords with two-word keywords.

Another reason to focus on three-word keywords is the sheer number of search engine results available with two keywords. Otherwise, the competition will be tough. This should not be attempted on a lowly side article but within the main page content of the website.

First things first, run the three-word keywords through your favorite search engine and ask yourself the following questions:

• Has someone already used these keywords? If so, are there more than ten results directly referencing them? Are they in the same order as I am using them? Ten results are not the end all be all final decision-making number, but it’s a good rule of thumb to use.
• Is my topic saturated with results already? You are looking for three keywords with less than three pages exactly referencing your chosen keywords.

The All Important Title

The title is the second most important feature of your article. This is what search engine users will see first. Consider it your book cover. Have you ever bought a book simply because its cover initially caught your eye? This is in the same league. Your title will reverberate throughout the world wide web, and represent your entire article in a few short words. There are several things you can do to ensure your article becomes the eye-catching gem that I am sure you wish it to be.

• Include numbers. For example “top ten”, “four reasons”, and other references to a list.
• Make sure to include your three chosen keywords.
• How to titles attract more attention (see this article you are reading).
• Run your title through a couple of search engines, and make sure someone hasn’t already used it.

Formatting

Formatting is an important factor when it comes to whether those starry-eyed visitors you attracted stick around. It will be the difference between whether they read your whole article or just click on the next Pinterest picture. Formatting is equally as important to SEO. There are several guidelines to follow to ensure maximum reader retention.

• User proper grammar. Simple, but often overlooked on the Internet.
• Keep your paragraph length to a maximum of four sentences. Attention spans only get lower on the Internet.
• Have an instance where you bold, italicize, and underline the chosen keywords. This can be done up to twice per article, as too many formatting changes hinder reader attention.
• Link to your website from your article at least once. This can be to the index page or any other page where you wish to increase SEO rankings.
• Include a minimum of at least one picture in the article. There is no maximum when it comes to pictures, because those low attention spans absolutely adore images.
• If you have a video include it in the article. This can be placed anywhere during the length of the article, but the beginning, directly in the middle or the end seem to be most effective placement for video content.

Images and Pictures

Pictures are your ticket to retaining reader attention. Use them wisely by enveloping text around them wherever possible. Make sure to include an alternative image tag to each image to increase search engine friendliness. This is where you want to include your three chosen keywords in this text.

Original images are preferred, as they are loved by all the major search engines. But if originals are not possible, feel free to use any other source as long as it is legal. You want to avoid any copyright infringement for ethical reasons, as well as protecting your website’s reputation.

The Conclusion

In the summary, after wrapping up your article make sure to link to the index page or main page of your website such as Webtivity Designs. This tells visitors where to go for more information. At the very end of the article, include a short sentence with your phone number and a link to your contact us page or email.

After Steps

Now, what? You’ve done your due diligence, your article is up and live. What else can you do to ensure the maximum reach of your article? Hop on social media channels, and I mean all of them. Facebook, Twitter, Google+… all of them. Post a short snippet your article’s title and encourage readers or followers to check it out. This is an excellent opportunity to include an original picture that was included in your article. Or a video if your article contained one.

Social media updates with multimedia attachments do almost five times better than their plain textual alternatives.

The next step is an evaluation of the effectiveness of your article. Jump on to your website metrics system and gauge the impact your article has on your website traffic. Analyze and optimize, find out what your audience loves and what it hates. Adjust accordingly for future articles.

This is the most important step in this whole guide. If you do not have an analyzing step you are basically starting from scratch on every single article you write! I know people get busy, so even if you check on your previous articles progress once when you are writing the next one, please do it.

That one glance may be the difference between making a costly mistake and taking advantage of an otherwise unknown opportunity.

If you’d like a free consultation on how to better market your business using original content, please contact us at Webtivity Marketing & Design.

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What is branding? A lot of folks mistakenly think that if you slap a logo on something, that you’ve branded yourself or your business. Throw up a website and dress in your company colors–BOOM! Branded! It couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Every day, right around noon, Leslie Ciccone owner of Swah-rey, St. Petersburg’s premier dessert bar, has lunch with her staff. She makes sure they sit down, even for a few minutes, to enjoy their meal. This small, inexpensive gesture has large impact, whether they’re aware of it or not.

Upon entering Swah-rey, you’re greeted by sweet smell, inviting seating, beautiful art and decor, dreamy lighting, and a warm smiling face behind the counter. Don’t get me started on the desserts and coffee (their actual claim to fame)… Leslie has donated her mini cupcakes countless times to local organizations, she attends events outside of her own shop, and graciously offers her space to those that need a community meeting place.

Okay, okay, she’s an angel… What does this have to do with branding? Your brand goes beyond you slapping your name on something. Your brand is your promise to your customers to go above and beyond your competitors. Your brand is your commitment to your employees–your BRAND ambassadors. Your brand is the look, feel, smell, and embrace you offer the public. It’s a full sensory experience.

You may have thought through your product, your price points, and your packaging, but what feeling are you offering? Swah-rey delivers a belly-warming experience from their cushy chairs, the first sip of caramel latte, the last bite of creme brulee, and finally to the no-pressure billing experience. Though customers order at the counter, Swah-rey staff will bring your food to your table and they don’t expect payment until you’ve finished dining. They check on you throughout your meal, as you would a guest in your own home.

Sure you can require your employees to do all of these things because it’s “their job,” but the fact that Leslie shows her staff the same hospitality she expects from them is priceless. She offers the same continuous attention to detail in her own community–beyond her front door. Culture can’t be forced, but it can be demonstrated from the top down. How do you live your brand?

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At the beginning of every year we say to ourselves that we’re going to do better. We’re going to obtain more money, work on our health, and improve our relationships. In the business world, we usually only focus on the money part. Fortunately, these things are all connected in a personal and career sense. Below are our 2016 New Year’s Resolutions:

Lose Weight
Shed the bulk by reviewing print materials, website copy, and proposals. Is it information overload? Reduce and simplify to clearly communicate with your customers, staff, and prospects. In a world heavily concerned with SEO and online marketing, we tend to fluff fluff and fluff with keywords and phrases. However, you can lose your customer’s attention and purpose when overloading them with nonsense.

Get Organized
Create a marketing calendar for your social media posts, e-newsletters, expos and events. Canned responses can be a great time-saver to those frequently asked questions. Gmail has a lab under “settings” to create these messages. Some internal systems call them other names such as macros or auto-responses. Don’t forget to proofread before sending. Some canned messages need you to fill in client’s names and info. You don’t want to leave “Dear Mr. Client” in the intro.

Simplify
In the spirit of organization, cutting corners is sometimes encouraged. Make an effort to go paperless and to keep all documents organized on your computer. Use the mentality of “if I were to get hit by a bus tomorrow, who could jump in and do my job?” (Sounds morbid, we know, but this makes one think about training, organizing, and setting procedures.) Here at Webtivity, we use a couple of shortcuts like the Stanza date clipper for Google Calendar that takes information from a web page and lets you add it to your calendar with a couple clicks, rather than copying and pasting over. Another great app is called RoboForm that stores logins for frequently visited sites and personal info for those annoying registration and checkout fields.

Improve Communication
Respond to all emails. If you scan over an email with intent on replying to it later, be sure to mark it as “unread” or flag it as a  follow-up. Leaving coworkers or clients on hold for weeks is just plain rude. If you don’t have an answer, simply respond that you’ll work on one and keep them updated on the project. Personally, when I send an email or response, I feel like I’ve done my part. It’s beyond annoying having to babysit to make sure someone else has done theirs. At that point, I feel like I’m doing two jobs. Remember to be consistent and transparent. Eliminating questions builds trust and respect within your team and clientele.

Give Back
If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. While being part of several organizations, chambers, and boards, we see a lot of talking with little action from surrounding businesses. Inspire your company and community to get their hands dirty and chip in where needed. We’re talking about orchestrating community cleanup days, assisting local charities and nonprofits, offering free workshops, or starting an internship program. Check with your local chambers and business associations to find opportunities to make a difference in your district.

Build and Maintain Morale
Teamwork makes the dream work. No really. It does. If you have a staff that is gossiping or throwing one another under the bus, your company will never have anything but turnover. (Oh and hint, hint, the example is set from the top-down.) If you find yourself throwing fits, lacking patience, coming in late/leaving early, and being stingy, don’t expect much more from your employees. Work on team goal-setting and be sure to praise your co-workers for your triumphs.  Keep your team up-to-speed on your intentions and progress. An organization that works toward a common goal will take pride in their company inside and outside of working hours.

Put Your Best Face Forward
Most of us are guilty (I know I am!) of rolling out of bed last minute and throwing ourselves together. After adding the extra holiday pounds and entertaining the in-laws, dolling myself up for work is usually my last priority. However, it’s the first thing my clients and support staff notice. Do yourself a favor, and take that couple of minutes to primp and polish in the morning. It shows respect for yourself and your position. (You also won’t hate yourself in tagged company photos!)

Don’t Become a Workaholic
This sounds counter-intuitive to a list heavily geared toward business goals, but work needs to be turned off. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep, eating properly, and enjoying yourself. If you’re in workmode 24/7, you burn yourself out and push away those you care about. Take time to meditate and have hobbies. This clear-headed thinking will rejuvenate your job and you’ll find 5 o’clock comes sooner than it used to.

Finish What You Started
Goal-setting doesn’t mean diddly if you don’t follow through. Set dates, mark your calendars, and have accountability partners. Display your goals visibly for everyone to see daily. This keeps you and your team honest with each other. It’s okay to ask for help and to offer it when you notice someone is behind. Celebrate your victories and recognize your milestones!

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If you missed The Grand Central District‘s Holiday Mixer, below are the tips we presented to help market your business during the holiday season:

Light Up the District!

We’re encouraging all businesses to keep their lights on through the month of December.

• This helps unify district by displaying all of the storefronts.
• Promotes your business and it’s offerings when you’re closed.
• Keeping your business lit, deters sketchy activity and makes any mischief visible.

Holiday Open House

If you haven’t already, schedule a holiday open-house at your business.

• Retailers, if budget permits, offer finger food and wine.
  • If budget doesn’t permit, try co-opping with local bars and restaurants.
  • Get rid of unwanted merch by offering grab bags with surprise goodies.
  • Hide a couple “big deal” presents like store gift cards in the grab bags.
  • Bundle items into a gift set for a special promotion.
• Restaurants, promote your space as a holiday party venue.
  • Offer a private area of the restaurant or bar, or again, pair up with local retailers that might be hosting their own event.
  • Offer samplings of your house wine and pass out coupons to lure them back to your space.

• Put your customers in the mood to buy!
  • Decorate your store or office window.
  • Remind your clients that anything can be a gift!
  • Put bows on larger items.
  • Make gift cards for your services.

• Remember to utilize your social media.
  • Dress up your cover photo on Facebook.
  • “Holidize” your logo by putting jingle bells around it or a santa hat on it.
  • Boost your posts and remind customers you’re there!
  • Set out a guestbook and email your customers special offers or holiday tips and tricks.

If you’d like a free consultation on how to better market your business during the holidays, please contact us at Webtivity Marketing & Design.

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